This will definitely not be the first article to reference that diversity within the technology industry is abysmal. This topic has long been widely reported on multiple industry websites, blogs and news outlets.

The current state of affairs is embarrassing and many tech companies are working hard to improve this. All that said, in many ways, I’m beginning to feel like a contrarian on this topic.

I’m actually optimistic about the future of diversity in tech, in the long-term.

The people who consistently build products and services that reach massive scale are often those who are able to accurately predict what people want, often before people realize they want them.

I tend to follow the works, speeches and thoughts of these people more often than I follow traditional journalists. One person who fits this category for many in the tech community is Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, and early investor in Facebook, SpaceX and many more.

Last year, Thiel published an amazing book titled Zero to One which highlighted important themes for aspiring entrepreneurs. One of the key themes was that many of the greatest businesses derived from someone’s fundamental belief of something that opposed both popular opinion and common sense.